Book Review: FreeBSD Mastery: Specialty Filesystem

A filesystem is nothing but the data structures that an operating system uses to keep track of files on a disk. The filesystem stores pictures, music, videos, accounting data and more. The different operating system comes with various filesystems. One may need to move data between FreeBSD and other Unix-like systems like OS X or Linux based devices. Knowing all about filesystem help us to archive or move data between system. The “FreeBSD Mastery: Specialty Filesystem” is an essential, practical and well-written book. The book divided into 12 chapters. The first chapter talks about accessing data from other operating systems. One will learn to access data from Linux and MS-Windows. The CLI command explains how to create and burn bootable CDs, DVD, and Blue-ray disks.

The second and third chapter talks about unique file system configuration. This is useful for managing firewall and system process.

Sometimes user runs out of disk space on the server. The fourth chapter talks about rearranging FreeBSD file system. For example, move $HOME to another partition to make room for files.

Chapter five talks about creating the filesystem in memory. This is useful for a web server such as Nginx or Apache to server files from RAM and avoid disk latency.

Chapter six and seven talks about client and server filesystem that we use in the office or home. One will learn about both CIFS and NFS configurations. It allows users to access files across a network and treat them as if they resided in a local file directory.

Chapter eight explains the use of Internet SCSI filesystem (iSCSI) over IP network. FreeBSD iSCSI Initiator is a system or a server that attaches to an IP network. It initiates requests and receives responses from an iSCSI target. FreeBSD iSCSI enables one to connect a host computer to an external iSCSI-based storage array through an Ethernet network adapter.

I found chapter nine and ten quite useful. The author talks about sharing disk and mirroring disk using the network. You will learn how to setup networked disk failover storage on top of the CARP (Common Address Redundancy Protocol). Its primary purpose is to allow multiple hosts on the same network segment to share an IP address. CARP is a secure, free alternative to the Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) and the Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP).

The last two chapter talks about the latest version of NFS version 4. You will also learn about ACLs and filesystems in user space.

Of course, one need working knowledge of FreeBSD and shell prompt. Many books talk about the FreeBSD. However, this book allows you to set FreeBSD along with other file systems in productions setups. You can exchange data using local devices or networked hosts. Moreover, that makes this book a joy and treasure to read and enhance sysadmin skills.

FreeBSD server designed to work with Windows, Linux, and other operating platforms. If you are using FreeBSD server in mixed IT setup, I would recommend this book.

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin, DevOps engineer, and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. Get the latest tutorials on SysAdmin, Linux/Unix and open source topics via RSS/XML feed or weekly email newsletter.

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